Mara Wilson Warns of “Living Nightmare” Amid Surge in AI Abuse

Former child star Mara Wilson, best known for her role in Matilda, published a harrowing essay in The Guardian warning that generative AI has “reinvented Stranger Danger.” Now 38, Wilson revealed that her image was exploited on fetish websites and photoshopped into pornography before she even reached high school. While she felt safe on film sets as a child, she described the online world as a “violating experience” and a “living nightmare” that left deep emotional scars. She cautioned that modern technology now makes such exploitation “infinitely easier” for any child with a face on the internet.

Wilson’s warning comes as new data from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) shows that 2025 was the worst year on record for online child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The organization reported a staggering 26,362% rise in photo-realistic AI videos of child abuse compared to the previous year. Analysts found that 65% of these AI-generated videos were “Category A,” involving the most extreme forms of violence. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall responded to the crisis this week, vowing to fast-track laws that criminalize the creation of non-consensual AI-generated intimate images and “nudify” tools.

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Under the proposed Crime and Policing Bill, the UK government aims to outlaw AI models specifically trained to generate abuse material. The legislation would also empower child protection groups to test AI models for vulnerabilities at the source. As the UN warns that such material could become a “limitless” digital plague, Wilson urged parents and lawmakers to demand accountability from tech companies. “Millions of children could be forced to live my same nightmare,” she wrote, calling for an urgent shift to “safety by design” in all new artificial intelligence tools.

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